'No one knew': South Beirut stunned after strike kills Hamas deputy
Israeli strike killed the deputy leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The day after loud blasts ripped through the district from the drone attack that killed Saleh al-Aruri, armed men of Hezbollah were standing guard in the mainly Shiite Muslim area that is their stronghold.
Local residents said they were surprised to learn that their busy street housed the secretive Hamas bureau in a non-descript three-storey building nestled next to a pharmacy and a sweets shop.
Israel has not claimed the deadly attack but Hamas, the group behind the October 7 attack that sparked the Gaza war, and Lebanese officials have no doubt it was Israel who killed Aruri and six Hamas operatives.
Beirut's southern suburbs have long been a stronghold of the Iran-backed Hezbollah armed group, but it is also an overcrowded residential area packed with civilians, shops and restaurants.
«No one knew that there was a Hamas office here,» said Ahmed, 40, who works in the nearby sweets shop.
«I heard three explosions, at first I thought it was thunder,» he told AFP in disbelief.
Shopkeepers were sweeping glass shards off the road near the impact site on Hadi Nasrallah street, named after Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah's late son, who was killed in fighting with Israel in 1997.
The Lebanese army cordoned off the perimeter and Hezbollah militants dressed in black civilian clothing kept watch nearby.
«Three Israeli drone strikes targeted the building,» said a Hezbollah official who requested anonymity citing security concerns.
— 'Expecting the worst' -
Rescuers affiliated with Hezbollah rummaged through the remains of cars damaged or charred by the strikes, in an empty lot facing the building.
«I was at the dentist's, a few meters
